International tournament goalie performances that rival 1998 Hasek?

[dalewood12]

Hasek’s performance at the 1998 Nagano Olympics is considered one of the greatest individual efforts by a goalie in a tournament.

Are there any other goalie performances that rival or come close to Hasek’s dominance in 1998? This could be from any international tournament.

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[jigglysquishy]

Tretiak in 1981 stands out.

In the final two games, against their biggest two rivals (Czechoslovaki and Canada), he lets in 2 goals on 54 shots.

Across the tournament, he posted a 0.947% and 1.33 GAA. No other goalie had a SV% over 900 or a GAA under 2.0.

The Soviets were stacked then, but it's a great example of a having an all-time great in net boosting the play of the whole team.

 

[Albatros]

Artūrs Šilovs was a huge part of Latvia winning their first medal in 2023.

 

[VanIslander]

5'8 Irbe in the 1990 world championships.

Winning his 2nd consecutive world championship for the Soviets, this time as tourney best goaltender, he would go on to be great for San Jose and Carolina (just ask their fan base about Irbe), then inducted into the IHHOF.

He is on most guys' long list, hopefully.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Bob McKenzie in The Hockey News - Mar 6, 1998

The record will show that netminder Hasek, ‘The Dominator,’ led this improbable Czech team to victory, posting a pair of shutouts (against Finland and Russia) and a dramatic shootout victory (over Canada) en route to a 5-1-0 record and the gold.

Hasek was good. At times he was great, especially in the 4-1 quarterfinal win that eliminated the U.S. and during the late stages and shootout of the semifinal win over Canada. The Czechs likely wouldn’t have won gold without him. But as good as the Buffalo Sabre goalie was, he was not the focal point for this story.

That honor goes to the entire Czech team, notably a much-maligned defensive crew that emerged as the tourney’s most valiant defenders.

It was a group far greater than the sum of its parts. Jiri Slegr and Richard Smehlik, regarded as two fair-to-middling NHLers, were towers of defensive strength. So, too, were Frantisek Kucera, a failed NHLer, and Jaroslav Spacek, a virtual unknown. The third pair was Roman Hamrlik and Petr Svoboda, who scored the only goal of the gold medal game when he rifled a point shot past Russian goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov at 8:08 of the third period.

 

[VanIslander]

Bob McKenzie was always diplomatic and moderate. That's why no one dislikes him. He tempers discussion. He ain't a shock jock or Cassandra.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Jim Craig in 1980 really had a stellar tournament not just the Miracle game.

6-0-1
.916/2.14

Made 40 more saves than anyone else in the tournament, had the best sv% by 17% and barely got beat for best GAA by .05 all while playing 120 minutes more than any other goalie.

 

[frisco]

1976 Canada Cup-Rogie Vachon 6-1 .941/1.39
1991 Canada Cup-Bill Ranford 6-0 .939/1.79
1996 World Cup-Mike Richter 5-1 .923/2.43

My Best-Carey

 

[Crosby2010]

I guess as a Canadian you might think I look at Hasek's performance in 1998 with envy, but I never have. If anything I've always had disdain for the mess of 1998 with our own Canadian team. So with that being said, I don't think Hasek's 1998 performance was as good as we remember. I never knew Bob McKenzie's article written about the Olympics, but after reading it upthread here I agree. It is sort of how I've always thought too. The Czech team was a strong cohesive defensive unit. And Jagr and Hasek were the name brands on the team. Canada had fits getting quality chances on Hasek in that semi final game. Only in overtime did we actually look like we should have by dominating the play and tilting the ice in our favour. The first three periods were not like that. A deflected goal by Trevor Linden is what got us the overtime and shootout.

As for the shootout I don't think Hasek faced a ton of great chances there. Fleury did a good job getting the puck high but it just hit Hasek's shoulder and popped up and over the net. Pretty close. Bourque did not take a good shot on him. Nieuwendyk was sloppy and didn't even get a shot on net but instead lost the puck to overpuckhandling. Lindros himself did the right thing by bursting in like a bull in a china shop and then deking Hasek out but ringing it off the post. Hasek is lying on his back - without his stick - and has no clue where the puck is. To say he got lucky with Lindros is an understatement. Lastly, Shanahan came in there as slow as molasses and did nothing positive on that rush.

So he did alright. He did what he had to do, but it was not elite. I would say the US game he played great, because the Americans outplayed the Czechs in the quarter finals. But I don't think he was the reason they won. I don't know if he stole a game outside of the U.S. game. I liken it to Carey Price in 2014. Price was good, barely allowed any goals, but that team was like a trained German shepherd in front of him. Picking up rebounds, always backchecking, never being out of position, etc. A well oiled machine. Hasek was like that in 1998, I think.

Tretiak in 1981 comes to mind as one of the better performances. Vachon in 1976 had his moments and 7 goals in 7 games is pretty darn good, but he did have a heck of a team in front of him so he might fall into the Price performance category. But in each of these cases I think their team still wins either way. Tretiak did allow only one goal vs. a stacked Canada in 1981 but his team scored 8 goals that game. He wasn't the reason they won.

So I am going to pick Richter in 1996. He was brilliant. Deserved the MVP that he got and the Harley Davidson that went with it. Because there is no way USA wins that without him. Richter always had this x-factor about him that frightened you where he could get hot and just make a breathtaking save to screw you over. 1994 comes to mind, and 1996 World Cup defines this. Canada had some issues in this tournament, but that Game 3 of the World Cup final is possibly the best game a goalie has ever played. You always hear that "Oh, without him they'd be down 5-1." Yeah, but seriously, the first two periods it was tied 1-1 and a screened shot by Lindros is the only thing that beat Richter. And it honestly should have been 5-1 with the game over. The ice was tilted that much and Richter made saves that to this day still haunt me let alone the players that took them (hello Vincent Damphousse). He elevated the Americans to victory, and while he allowed another goal that game to Adam Foote, it was again a screen shot that he didn't even see. So I give this to Richter.

 

[gary69]

Jiri Holecek at World Championships in 1972 and 1976.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Kevin Lankinen in 2019 world championship.

 

[GarlicbreadTB]

Richter World Cup of Hockey 1996.

 

[Hanji]

Tretiak's last international performance, 1984 Olympics.
6-0-0
0.67 gaa
.966 sv%

 

[bobholly39]

Carey Price - 2014 Olympics.
Now - I know he had a great team obviously - but he still posted back to back shutouts in the semis and finals, against US & Sweden. The US team was a 1-0 win.

He was perfect, and the marging of error was super low with Canada not scoring that many goals.

 

[Cruor]

Carey Price - 2014 Olympics.
Now - I know he had a great team obviously - but he still posted back to back shutouts in the semis and finals, against US & Sweden. The US team was a 1-0 win.

He was perfect, and the marging of error was super low with Canada not scoring that many goal

I guess backstopping Canada can be a thankless job. He did his part for sure but Sweden were missing their top 3 centers for the gold medal game so I'm unsure as to how to rate it.

 

[bobholly39]

I guess backstopping Canada can be a thankless job. He did his part for sure but Sweden were missing their top 3 centers for the gold medal game so I'm unsure as to how to rate it.

Yeah I remember the Sweden team was a bit depleted for injuries, for sure. But again - it's not like he only let in 1 or 2 goals, it was a shutout.

And the US semis was a very close 1-0 game

He posted 31 saves against US, and 24 vs Sweden. That's a lot of shots for back to back shutouts.

 

[JackSlater]

I guess backstopping Canada can be a thankless job. He did his part for sure but Sweden were missing their top 3 centers for the gold medal game so I'm unsure as to how to rate it.

You'd swear it was Gretzky, Lemieux, and Beliveau for how frequently this comes up.

Hasek has by far the most prominent performance in terms of imagination, but there are competitors. He was excellent but as noted the whole Czech team played very tight defence. Price is in a somewhat similar boat where Canada was so smothering defensively that he was rarely ever tested. Both passed their tests with flying colours of course, Hasek having less room for error.

Some of the Tretiak performances, in terms of numbers, seem to belong right in the conversation. Can't say I've seen any of his Olympic performances outside of 1980 to really comment though.

 

[Cruor]

You'd swear it was Gretzky, Lemieux, and Beliveau for how frequently this comes up.

Well for Sweden in 2014 it just might as well have been, they lost Zetterberg, Sedin and Bäckström (just hours before the final in that fiasco of a doping ruling). It was a seriously hobbled team going up against a super solid Canada side.

 

[JackSlater]

Well for Sweden in 2014 it just might as well have been, they lost Zetterberg, Sedin and Bäckström (just hours before the final in that fiasco of a doping ruling). It was a seriously hobbled team going up against a super solid Canada side.

I agree about Backstrom, that was stupid. But it's strange to me how often it comes up, almost without fail about 2014. Late prime versions of Sedin and Zetterberg weren't going to suddenly make Sweden anything other than clearly the worse team. Other teams have won and lost tournaments with bigger roster losses.

 

[Cruor]

I agree about Backstrom, that was stupid. But it's strange to me how often it comes up, almost without fail about 2014. Late prime versions of Sedin and Zetterberg weren't going to suddenly make Sweden anything other than clearly the worse team. Other teams have won and lost tournaments with bigger roster losses.

You're right in that they were on their back-end of their respective careers, and with Zetterberg atleast it felt kind of unsurprising that he tweaked his back and had to evacuate the Olympic village on a stretcher on the airplane back home.

But in a single elimination tournament and a gold medal game I would have liked them in the lineup. Sweden wasn't deep like Canada, losing Zetterberg could be compensated for but Sedin and Bäckström? Sweden was in a deep hole from the puck drop.

 

[GMR]

Tommy Salo in the 2002 Olympics.

 

[Cruor]

Tommy Salo in the 2002 Olympics.

That was a once in a life time fumble, even now re-watching it two decades later I'm unsure of what he was trying to do. With that said his skaters let him down, they should have put Belarus away.

 

[MadLuke]

That sounds fair, goal for against Belarus
Russia.: 6
finland: 8
USA....: 8
Sweden.: 3
Canada.: 7
Russia.: 7

 

[MadLuke]

Carey Price - 2014 Olympics.

That one is hard to place

2 goals in 3 games during qualification.

playoff round
2-1
1-0
3-0

0 goal against in 8 Olympics period straits.

Was there ever a better defensive team relative to the competition faced ?

 

[Cruor]

That one is hard to place

2 goals in 3 games during qualification.

playoff round
2-1
1-0
3-0

0 goal against in 8 Olympics period straits.

Was there ever a better defensive team relative to the competition faced ?

Since Canada started competing again in best on best? Probably not, that was a suffocating team.

I'm thinking of that Latvia game though, off the top of my mind 57 shots against and 55 saves while Price faced sub-20 shots. That kind of gives you an idea of just how dominant they were.